Somehow, one of n’s socks became precariously perched on the top edge of a picture frame that is just a few inches below the ceiling. I had to laugh when I saw it, and neither child has taken responsibility for it. I left it up there, partly out of sheer laziness, and partly to see how long it would take D to notice it. I think it has been about five days, and D just noticed it this morning. 🙂

There are not many television shows that we watch as a family. One of the few that appeals to all of us is “MasterChef Jr.” The kids like watching the kids cook and D and I just like to watch cooking competition shows. 🙂 Therefore, I was excited to win a prize from MasterChef Jr. which included fancy hot chocolates on a stick and branded mugs. We made the hot chocolate and had fun sipping it while watching the latest episode.
*One other show we like to watch together is “Travel With Kids”, which is on Amazon Prime.

Although this picture shows all smiles for Valentine’s Day, it has been a rough few days. n missed school on Wednesday and Thursday because he was coughing and had a fever. This triggered his asthma, and at one point I was SO close to taking him to the ER. Thankfully, he is now on the mend, but we are still putting him on the nebulizer in the middle of the night. He had to miss his Valentine’s Day party at school, which was sad. However, I had another mom pass out his Valentine cards and collect the other cards for him, so that definitely cheered him up!

After ten plus years, it was time to say good-bye to our refrigerator. It has seen us through an apartment in Los Angeles, a condo in Anaheim, and was still running fine in our current house. However, we bought it when we were a family of two, and it just was not serving our needs anymore. I always get nervous when making a big purchase, so it took me a good while to pull the trigger. I must say, I am liking it so far!

Last year I won a gift certificate to a juice bar called Nekter. A couple of weeks ago, we paid a visit and tried our first acai bowl. Since the normal recipe calls for cashew milk, we subbed in coconut water instead. Fortunately, the granola is nut-free, although we ordered it on the side, just to be safe. I really enjoyed all of the fruit on top. It was a refreshing, healthy treat!

Lately, we have been hanging out with the families of k’s basketball team. We eat out together, and have tried out some “new to us” places. One of them is Class 302, which is known for its self-serve boba drinks. We had eaten shaved snow there before, but this time we tried some of the savory items, such as the popcorn chicken. The restaurant is small, so we took up most of the tables. However, they accommodated us by providing plenty of small bowls and dishes so that we could share everything.

Since we bought the San Diego Zoo pass, the next day we went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park the next day. Overall, this zoo has a more “upscale” feel and it seems like it is better maintained.

The new tiger exhibit was neat.
It was also fun to do the tram ride, which comes with admission.
Overall, it was a fun quick getaway. I can’t believe it took me a month to blog about it all!

During our quick trip to San Diego, we were able to stay the Courtyard by Marriott in Rancho Bernardo using D’s reward points. This was the first time we were able to redeem points, so it was quite exciting!

There is a quaint park with a pond behind the property.
There is also an adjacent Chinese restaurant called “Pearl” that we were considering for dinner, but it was booked by a wedding party that night.

Instead, we ended up at a Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Ca Do.
The food was quite delicious, and reasonably priced. We would be regulars if it was closer to our house. They were pretty busy that Friday night, and I can see why.

After taking the gondola, there were still more animals to be seen!

The giant tortoises are always fascinating!
The kids really enjoyed the animal show. We had front row seats. Good thing there was no “splash zone”.

After New Year’s Day, we drove down to San Diego for a quick overnight trip. Our first stop was the “World-Famous” San Diego Zoo. We bought our memberships online beforehand, which I believe saved us around $10. The last time we had gone, k was just a tyke, and n was not born. We thought another trip was due. With our passes, I expect many more trips in the upcoming year.
This red panda was my favorite of the day–so incredibly cute!

We headed to the panda exhibit first, since it is the one exhibit that can have a long wait time.


k’s favorite was the polar bear exhibit.

The zoo was still decorated for Christmas, but we did not really experience any of the performances, since they were all at night. Maybe next year.
We also took the gondola, which is free with membership. The zoo is so large, this is actual a useful mode of transportation, with great views!